General Mills Food Distribution Specialist Interview

Interviewed Nov 2011 (took 2 months)

I was contacted by a hiring company who found my resume online. At first, I was not told what company I was interviewing for, but was given information that it was in the Food Service industry. After a successful phone screening with the hiring company (asked questions about my resume and given behavioral type situations), I was then informed that it was for General Mills and that I would be flown out to their HQs in Minn. for a formal half-day interview (all expenses paid).

The interview itself in Minneapolis was tough. You get to size up your competition right at the hotel (every potential candidate stays at the same hotel and ride the shuttle to the HQ together.. competition from the get-go!). You are all taken around the HUGE campus of General Mills and brought to a room together. A little slide show is shown about info on GM. Then you split up and do one-on-ones mixed with a sales presentation somewhere in between. It was tough, I must say. I had to sell a potential new product and think of a sales tactic of how to distribute it to a potential "c-store" (convenience store). Then more one-on-ones with all types of behavioral questions. THEY ALL ARE BEHAVIORAL QUESTIONS. Don't expect this to be an easy interview. GM is a great company and wants to completely understand their future employees to see if they are a perfect fit. At times, I felt I was telling them information about situations I had never told anyone else!

After the one-on-ones you all join back together and are escorted out. They are very nice, intelligent, and caring people. I enjoyed my experience and definitely learned a lot about not only GM, but myself as well.

I have 2 complaints: 1) it took 2 MONTHS to hear back that I didn't get the job (only after I contacted the recruiter to follow-up with any news). 2) I was never told what city I would be working in; the job location was "multiple locations". Even after asking where I would specifically be stationed, and making known I was open to relocation, I still could not get a concrete answer.